Cat flaps - chip or no chip?

[birdseeder]

Morning!
So we have 3 cats (inherited one this year 😢) and have decided to get a cat flap installed in our glazed door.

We live on a housing estate with quite a few other cats around, however none have actually made it into the house as far as I am aware...

So I am thinking, will I need a chipped flap with 3 cats? I'm kind of assuming they have the "territory" covered?

I am also thinking of costs lol, x3 collars getting lost/replaced 🙄

My question is really, if you don't have a chipped cat flap, do you get random cats come in?

Thanks

Are your cats microchipped?
I have a chipped cat flap and it just reads my cats microchips so no collars to worry about.
Even with four cats others cats still try to get inside.
I would definitely recommend one

We have two cats and a non-chipped cat flap. We don’t have stray cats coming in

It's not just rogue cats, but could be other unwanted visitors.

Plus, I think...without researching too heavily on the non-chipped ones, that chipped ones often have other features. Ours has curfews, and different locking routines.

So we can lock the cat in or out, set curfews so after a certain time it stops going out, but let's them in when they come home. Or let's them out but not in at night (in case they like to bring in midnight snacks).

A lockable, chipped flapped also only let's your cats in at leisure, instead of bill the burglar sticking his hand through for keys or what have you.

Your cats should be chipped so they won't need collars. We have an arsehole visiting cat and I wanted but couldn't have one with my last cat as he was ginormous and at the time only standard sized microchip flaps were available, my new cat is normal sized so am switching for when she goes outside.

Have you checked you are able to install
In a glazed door? We've looked into it a few times and was always advised not to by the glazing companies

You don’t need collars if the cat has a chip... and tbh, cats should be chipped if they go outside anyway.

Also, you can do things like set them to in only at night - which is handy.

SureFlap - we've been using one for at least ten years. You can have multiple chips registered. It means no one but our two cats can get through.

what have collars got to do with a chip activated cat flap?

I really wouldn't bother. My brother bought a fancy cat flap with chips and both cats lost their collars. He bought new collars and they got lost too - clearly they don't like collars! - so he doesn't bother now and they just push the flap open with their noses.

Chipped every time. Before we got one SOMEONE had all her boyfriends popping round of a night.

Oh and the random cats - there are some nearby but his cats see them off when they come into the garden so they wouldn't dare try to come into the house!
Years ago I did regularly come downstairs in the morning to see a fat ginger cat that wasn't mine, asleep on the sofa though! He'd go home eventually but never caused a problem (I didn't feed it).

what have collars got to do with a chip activated cat flap?
My brother's cat flap has a chip in the collar to open the cat flap.

The microchip ones work on the chips in the the cat.
We have the Sure one with the app so I can see when they are in or out, set curfews, lock to in or out only - and get a notification on my phone when they come in.

I have my chip activated cat flap in a glazed door, had to pay a glazier to make up a whole new glass unit with a space left out for the cat flap which wasn't cheap but it is possible, I've had 2 cat doors in glass in 2 different houses now. Definitely go for a chipped one, I used to find my two sitting watching the big bully tomcat from next door eat their food, plus he infested them with fleas, I changed to a chip flap to keep him out.

chip every time. chip free flaps risk pissy toms coming in and marking their territory (voice of bitter, stinking experience).

they work off the ID chip that you should already have for your cat anyway, so no collar to lose

We have one. Like everybody else, no collars, just their internal chip. I've watched our female cat barrel through the flap chased by a randy tom more than once. The tom just headbutts the flap then goes and terrorises a different cat.

Ooh, this is interesting. Our cats are microchipped but the cat flap isn’t a fancy one that responds to a microchip ( already in the house when we bought it ) and we’ve had neighbours cats coming in eating their food and coming into DD’s bedroom to hiss at my two boys at night 😤 My boys are kittens still really and very scared! They don’t have collars but I’ll look into changing the cat flap.

You learn something new every day. I thought collars showed a cat wasn’t a stray and is treated for fleas.

@AlwaysLatte

I really wouldn't bother. My brother bought a fancy cat flap with chips and both cats lost their collars. He bought new collars and they got lost too - clearly they don't like collars! - so he doesn't bother now and they just push the flap open with their noses.

If your brother's cats were chipped (it's reckless to have a cat and not have it chipped) they wouldn't need collars.

I had a timer cat flap before so it was set to allow them in at night but not back out. I got rid of that one after I came down to an almighty racket and this big brute of a cat in our kitchen unable to get himself back out.

Mine reads their microchips and has a timer function so it stops them going out after 9pm but unlocks at 6am.

Chip, definitely. Have you considered putting it in a wall rather than in a glazed door? Depends if you have an inobtrusive bit of wall somewhere though. Ours is in a dead corner of the utility. My friend has one in a kitchen unit (he took the door off the 300mm) unit and put the flap in the back, going straight outside. Cat food/water is in the unit, so it's not wasted space. Another friend had one through her dining room wall, again in a corner.

Advantage is that you can fit it yourself, and I reckon it would be cheaper to brick it up (if you ever needed to) than it would be to fit in a glazed door.

My cats don't wear collars but have microchips so they can activate the cat flap. We've had a ginger cat and a fox peering in through the cat flap but luckily can't open it.

We got the chip one after bully cats kept coming in and eating the food and making themselves at home while our cowardly custard two hid shivering in another room.

It has kept the bullies out, but one of ours really struggled to learn to use it. They have to be right in the tunnel part and push with their face and it then gets set off to release. One of ours hasn’t actually mastered that and instead uses one claw to lift the flap towards himself and then struggles through. Luckily the bullies haven’t spent enough time at the door to realise this is possible. It took our dim wit about 4 weeks to get to this point. We had tried holding it open, posting him through multiple times etc. He doesn’t struggle to go out through it where the chip isn’t in play) just out. He never struggled with our previous standard non-chip flap.

So just be aware that not all cats quickly get the hang of them...but most seem to.

We've had a SureFlap for years and it's excellent. As PPs have said, it works with the microchips in the cat's body, so no collars needed.

You do need to buy a separate pane of glass with the hole in it - you can remove and keep the old pane of glass in case you ever want to get rid of the cat flap and swap the glass back. We paid someone to supply and fit the whole thing. Can't remember how much it cost I'm afraid.

According to the pest control guy who visited recently, rats can get in through cat flaps 😱 (not mice though, they can't jump high enough apparently) So I would never have a regular cat flap that let anything in! (We also have quite a few cats in our street and one who tried to get in through open doors and windows and steal our cats' food.)

Our cat flap is in the front door as our back doors are sliding glass patio doors and it would be tricky to fit one in them. We live in a fairly quiet street so not too many cars about